Video Hardware & Software

Scobleizer talks about Microsoft throwing down the multi-media gauntlet with a new software called Silverlight that aims to take on Adobe Flash, the predominant video media format on YouTube and other websites due to its better cross-platform support. Microsoft's Silverlight faces an uphill battle against Adobe Flash since the Adobe Flash Player is installed on more than 700 million computers and content developers are used to Adobe's media creation tools. Not to be outdone, Adobe introduced Adobe Media Player, a standalone media player that can play content "offline", as opposed to streamed "online" like the current Adobe Flash player does. This is in direct competition to the popular Windows Media Player bundled with most Windows PCs. This brings back the glory days of the Microsoft vs.

AT&T won't be reaching 18 million homes this year with its "Lightspeed" U-Verse IPTV & VDSL broadband network, giving more credence to my AT&T U-Verse Doomed? article. The ironic thing is that AT&T just a few days go stated it was ready for an aggressive rollout of U-verse. They told the San Antonio Express News that it had ironed out technical glitches with the service and is readying a breakneck expansion that will take it to all major cities in its 22-state service area and 8 million households by year-end.

Sony has revealed that it would now enable most of its new televisions, including High-Definition (HD), to play video from the Internet -- IPTV.

According to recent reports, the company said the convergence of the Internet and other digital video with traditional devices was the key for its four strategic growth areas: video gaming, digital imaging, HD and mobile products

Sony plans to equip its TVs with an attachable module that can stream broadband HD and other Internet video content simply by pushing a button on the remote control.

Sony also recently introduced an icon-based user interface, called Xross Media Bar, that is similar to a system already found on its PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable (aka PSP) gaming devices.

When the NBA All-Star Game and its weekend-long festivities take place in Las Vegas starting today it will mark the first time the game will be held in a city without an NBA franchise.

But it will also mark another first: the world's first live 3D HD production for a live sporting event, offering viewers around Las Vegas at viewing parties a chance to experience an NBA telecast like never before.

With the help of PACE, the same developer of the 3D technology being used by James Cameron, a special production fly-pack, and a lot of faith in new technology the NBA is laying the groundwork for a technology that could give fans who can't snag a ticket to an NBA Finals game a chance to catch the action at a digital cinema or arena.

Not too surprised, but happy to hear about the big boy of retailing, Wal-Mart, extend its reach into our homes by now offering video downloads of movies and TV shows through a partnership with all six of the major Hollywood studios (20th Century Fox, Disney, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Sony and Universal) to sell digital movies and television shows on its Web site.

(For more on the announcement, click here and for more on "first to offer from all six studios" go here.)

Now I won't say that this has other similar sites, such as iTunes, quaking in their boots, but the Big W does sell a lot of videos in their stores so why wouldn't they assume that the Wal-Mart buyinig public -- once they have their broadbands in place -- won't get into streaming video like they get into streaming into the big box retailer for all of those low, low prices?